Old/New Testament
Others
6 Where has your beloved gone,
O (A)most beautiful among women?
Where has your beloved turned,
that we may seek him with you?
Together in the Garden of Love
She
2 My beloved has gone down to his (B)garden
to (C)the beds of spices,
to (D)graze[a] in the gardens
and to gather (E)lilies.
3 (F)I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine;
he grazes among the lilies.
Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other
He
4 You are beautiful as (G)Tirzah, (H)my love,
(I)lovely as (J)Jerusalem,
(K)awesome as an army with banners.
5 Turn away your eyes from me,
for they overwhelm me—
(L)Your hair is like a flock of goats
leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
6 (M)Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
that have come up from the washing;
all of them bear twins;
not one among them has lost its young.
7 (N)Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
behind your veil.
8 There are (O)sixty (P)queens and eighty (Q)concubines,
and (R)virgins without number.
9 My (S)dove, my (T)perfect one, is the only one,
the only one of her mother,
pure to (U)her who bore her.
(V)The young women saw her and called her blessed;
(W)the queens and (X)concubines also, and they praised her.
10 (Y)“Who is this who looks down like the dawn,
beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun,
(Z)awesome as an army with banners?”
She
11 I went down to the nut orchard
to look at (AA)the blossoms of the valley,
(AB)to see whether the vines had budded,
whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
12 (AC)Before I was aware, my desire set me
among (AD)the chariots of my kinsman, a prince.[b]
Others
He
7 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
O (AI)noble daughter!
Your rounded thighs are like (AJ)jewels,
the work of (AK)a master hand.
2 Your navel is a rounded bowl
that never lacks mixed wine.
Your belly is a heap of wheat,
encircled with (AL)lilies.
3 (AM)Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
4 Your (AN)neck is like an ivory tower.
Your (AO)eyes are pools in (AP)Heshbon,
by the gate of Bath-rabbim.
Your nose is like a tower of (AQ)Lebanon,
which looks toward (AR)Damascus.
5 Your head crowns you like (AS)Carmel,
and your (AT)flowing locks are like purple;
a king is held captive in the tresses.
6 (AU)How beautiful and (AV)pleasant you are,
O loved one, with all your delights![e]
7 Your stature is like a palm tree,
and your breasts are like its clusters.
8 I say I will climb the palm tree
and lay hold of its fruit.
Oh may your breasts be like (AW)clusters of the vine,
and the scent of your breath like apples,
9 and your (AX)mouth[f] like the best wine.
She
It goes down smoothly for my beloved,
gliding over lips and teeth.[g]
The Bride Gives Her Love
11 (BA)Come, my beloved,
let us go out into the fields
and lodge in the villages;[h]
12 let us go out early to the vineyards
(BB)and see whether the vines have budded,
whether (BC)the grape blossoms have opened
and the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
13 (BD)The mandrakes give forth fragrance,
and beside our doors are all choice fruits,
(BE)new as well as old,
which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.
Longing for Her Beloved
8 Oh that you were like a brother to me
who nursed at my mother's breasts!
If I found you outside, I would kiss you,
and none would despise me.
2 I would lead you and (BF)bring you
into the house of my mother—
she who used to teach me.
I would give you (BG)spiced wine to drink,
the juice of my pomegranate.
3 (BH)His left hand is under my head,
and his right hand embraces me!
4 I (BI)adjure you, O (BJ)daughters of Jerusalem,
(BK)that you not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.
5 (BL)Who is that coming up from the wilderness,
leaning on her beloved?
Under the apple tree I awakened you.
There your mother was in labor with you;
there she who bore you was in labor.
6 Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as (BM)a seal upon your arm,
for (BN)love is strong as death,
(BO)jealousy[i] is fierce as the grave.[j]
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
the very (BP)flame of the Lord.
7 Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
all the wealth of his (BQ)house,
he[k] would be utterly despised.
Final Advice
Others
8 We have a little sister,
and she (BR)has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
on the day when she is spoken for?
9 If she is a wall,
we will build on her a battlement of silver,
but if she is a door,
we will enclose her with (BS)boards of cedar.
She
10 (BT)I was a wall,
and my (BU)breasts were like towers;
then I was in his eyes
as one who finds[l] peace.
11 Solomon had (BV)a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
he (BW)let out the vineyard to (BX)keepers;
each one was to bring for its fruit (BY)a thousand pieces of silver.
12 My vineyard, my very own, is before me;
you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
and (BZ)the keepers of the fruit two hundred.
He
13 (CA)O you who dwell in the gardens,
with (CB)companions listening for your voice;
(CC)let me hear it.
She
Sons and Heirs
4 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave,[a] though he is the owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 In the same way we also, when we were children, (A)were enslaved to the elementary principles[b] of the world. 4 But (B)when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, (C)born (D)of woman, born (E)under the law, 5 (F)to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive (G)adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent (H)the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then (I)an heir through God.
Paul's Concern for the Galatians
8 Formerly, when you (J)did not know God, you (K)were enslaved to those that by nature (L)are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather (M)to be known by God, (N)how can you turn back again to (O)the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10 (P)You observe days and months and seasons and years! 11 I am afraid (Q)I may have labored over you in vain.
12 Brothers,[c] (R)I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. (S)You did me no wrong. 13 You know it was (T)because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you (U)at first, 14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me (V)as an angel of God, (W)as Christ Jesus. 15 What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I then become your enemy by (X)telling you the truth?[d] 17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. 18 It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and (Y)not only when I am present with you, 19 (Z)my little children, (AA)for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ (AB)is formed in you! 20 I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.
Example of Hagar and Sarah
21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, (AC)one by a slave woman and (AD)one by a free woman. 23 But (AE)the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while (AF)the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two (AG)covenants. (AH)One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia;[e] she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But (AI)the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written,
(AJ)“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;
break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!
For the children of the desolate one will be more
than those of the one who has a husband.”
28 Now you,[f] brothers, (AK)like Isaac, (AL)are children of promise. 29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh (AM)persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, (AN)so also it is now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? (AO)“Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” 31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but (AP)of the free woman.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.